


Oreo

by bb8sbjtch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Learning to read, Severus Snape Adopts Harry Potter, Severus Snape Has a Heart, Young Harry Potter, learning, probably definitely ooc but i do not care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:35:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26533720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bb8sbjtch/pseuds/bb8sbjtch
Summary: Learning to read is hard. But he'll be okay. Severus will make sure of it.--------------Already expecting the ensuing tantrum, Severus took a moment before pointing to the blue and white letters on the package. “Let’s sound it out. What letter is-”Harry’s tiny hands immediately clapped over his ears. “No, no, no! I don’t want to sound it out! Just tell me what it says!”
Relationships: Harry Potter & Severus Snape
Comments: 8
Kudos: 273





	Oreo

“What does this say?”

Already expecting the ensuing tantrum, Severus took a moment before pointing to the blue and white letters on the package. “Let’s sound it out. What letter is-”

Harry’s tiny hands immediately clapped over his ears. “No, no, no! I don’t want to sound it out! Just tell me what it says!”

Severus sighed. This is how it had been going for the past three months. He tried to give Harry plenty of time to adjust in his new home, but it hadn’t been the most conducive to Harry’s already stunted education. Those muggles had kept him like an unwanted pet, trained to do what made them least angry with him. Which, of course, meant that he could show no sign of being smarter than their whale of a child. Severus found it reprehensible that the boy knew more about cleaning products than his ABC’s. 

Severus hated thinking about how he’d come into custody of Harry, much preferring to focus on the brighter moments of his time with Harry. People wouldn’t assume that Severus Snape, the dreaded Potions Master of Hogwarts, found any joy in parenting, especially parenting the son of his childhood nemesis, but truth be told he most thoroughly adored the task. Down to the nightmares and the endless questions, there was no part of being a father that Severus hated. He loved Harry, despite how, once he knew he wouldn’t be denied food, he always complained about eating his peas, and how he always asked for yet one more story at bedtime, and how he only wore his socks inside out because “the seam hurts!”.

And he loved him, to bits and pieces, when he threw a fit about learning. 

Putting on his best _I’m here to help_ face, Severus pulled Harry’s hands away from his ears. “Harry, come on, don’t you want to learn? So you don’t have to ask and you can be super smart?”

The six year old was unfazed by the mild bribe. “I don’t want to read! I don’t need my letters!”

“No? How will you know when your Hogwarts letter arrives, hm? And what about your textbooks? How will you learn your spells?” Severus pointed out, raising an eyebrow at the disgruntled little boy sitting next to him. 

Harry pouted at that, a pensive look coming over his face. “I can’t go to Hogwarts if I don’t know my letters?”

“No, I wish you could, but only little boys who know their letters can go,” Severus replied, words dripping with regret.

Harry took this in, brows furrowing as he looked up at Severus, who, despite his years of practice, was having difficulty fighting a smile. “But...I’m not allowed to learn? Getting smart is for...not kids like me.”

No matter how many times it happened, no matter how many times Harry fell into that old twisted mentality, it still hit Severus with the full force of a hurricane. Ultimately, he wasn’t naive enough to believe that Harry would really forget the Dursleys altogether, and certainly not less than a year after leaving them. Still, a part of him had hoped that Harry at least could shake off their cruel lessons. 

The part of Severus that craved damage and destruction, that found peace in the dark nature of the more twisted aspects of reality had calmed since he became a teacher, practically gone now that his days consisted of grilled cheeses, Star Wars pajamas, and the idle wonderings of a six year old. But when Harry so casually spoke of himself as less than human, it stoked the dying embers of his rage into a blinding wildfire that yearned to burn them alive. Burnt at the stake in an odd stroke of irony.

Bright green eyes peaked over little fingertips and cooled the heat despite the hesitation lurking in their shadows. Severus reached over, taking those tiny fingers and holding them firmly. “Harry, learning is for all children. There is nothing about you that is any different than Ronald Weasley or Neville Longbottom or Draco Malfoy. Learning is as much for you as it is for them.”

Harry bit at his cheek. Tears welled up in his hopeful eyes and his bottom lip trembled. “Ok, Daddy.”

Severus gave him an honest smile, reminded that his boy needed love and praise to feel safe. He couldn’t count how many times he’d found Harry, too afraid to ask for attention, crying because he felt unwanted. He learned very quickly that any upset directed at Harry needed to be very well concealed, lest Harry find him untrustworthy. He sighed deeply and released the little boy’s hands.

“You are a very smart little boy and I know you can learn your letters so well, so let’s practice,” he said, pointing yet again to the package of Oreos.

Harry nodded, brows now furrowed in concentration as opposed to distaste. “Is it...O?”

Pride pierced through his heart. “Yes! I told you you could do it! What’s the next one?”

A smile at the reaction to his correct answer came over his face, but vanished when he looked at the bright blue outline of R next. “I-I don’t know.”  
“Try your best.”

Harry looked nauseated at the idea. “I don’t- I...K?

Severus winced a bit internally. He tried to keep his voice light so as not to upset the boy. “No, but it’s okay-”

“No! I told you I was stupid-”

“Language, Harry, don’t say that-”

“-and now you know I am!”

“Harry,” Severus began, more firmly than before, “it is okay to make mistakes. You can’t learn without mistakes, dove. Let’s try again.”

Harry glanced nervously back at him. “I think it's...R.”

“There you go!” Severus cheered. “Next one?”

“E?”

“Mhm. And the last one?”

“O again.”

“Good job, dove,” Severus said, filled with joy at the way Harry preened under the praise. “Alright, let's do our sounds, okay?”

Feeling much more confident, Harry dragged his finger underneath the big letters, sounding out each as he went. “Are-eh-aw?”

Severus let out a little laugh at the garbled pronunciation. He slid a little closer to Harry, pointing to the letters O and R, and said, “Not quite. Look, O and R sounds like “oar” and then you say the E and the O just the same as their letter sound. Try that.”

Harry tried very hard to process that, thinking for such a solid moment that Severus nearly prompted him again, finally trying again when Severus opened his mouth. “Oreo?”

“Yes, my smart boy!” Severus exclaimed. “You did it! You read!”

Harry was beaming up at him, clearly much less afraid reading now that he had conquered it. Severus ruffled Harry’s hair and tried his hardest to wrap the memory of the moment forever.  
“Now, dove, since you read so well, you get to have an Oreo. Reading’s not so bad, now is it?”

Harry thanked him for the treat, smiling that sweet little grin up at him and Severus melted a bit inside. And when Harry inevitably asked for another, he found it impossible to say no.


End file.
